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Cade Altumate 1200

After a bumpy ride Iím now feeling a wee bit more comfortable in keeping these magnificent fish, or Ďdinner platesí as my family have nicknamed them . Thanks everyone for the advice on this forum over the past two years, particularly Hollowman and Sayid. Iíve learnt a lot more than I knew when I started but my knowledge is still just a 💧 in the bucket!

Iíve purchased a Cade Altumate 1200 which I pick up from Qld - combined a driving holiday with tank collection, lol, as one does when freight quote to our distant region is $1,000! Wanted something bigger for the gang to swim around in. Combined with awesome sump (link to pic of sump) it has a total volume of 633 litres. Looking for suggestions on setting up sump. Iím thinking bakki balls and sponge/wool layer in the first chamber, refugium in the second chamber and 2 continuum bac bricks in the final chamber. Have a dry Red Sea pump as return pump. Remember Iím Ďjust an eggí with a drip of knowledge so any suggestions are most welcome

Cade Altumate 1200 ,that definitely sound impressive ,633 liter of water is a lot and you can put 15 adult discus in there ,unfortunately i have never had experience with sump ,i am sure Steve
( Hollowman ) can chime in .
Good luck.

Hi Sayid, nice to hear from you again. Thanks for responding. Well as things go my nephew got involved over the 1200 and convinced me that as Iím driving a 7000k round trip to pick up a tank while on holiday I may as well in his words Ď Aunty go bigger, youíve got the room and the timeí so after very little consideration..Iíve upgraded to a 1500, which is 840L tank and 200L sump. Being retired is soo good because you have so much more time for hobbies and Iím loving this particular hobby! Iíve managed to find an awesome piece of driftwood from the beach which is about a metre long with an arch and branches; currently soaking to remove any nasties. Plan to sand it back and secure it to slate for the new tank. Obviously youíll gather Iím rather excited about this new project! Hopefully my Discus will love their new environment. Iím amazed at their growth and how calm they are when Iím mucking around in their tank, so much so they get in the way when Iím cleaning. I recall you told me ages back to stop stressing and enjoy them...think Iíve finnnnnaaaally got to that stage!

I had a sump for my system back a while, I had loads of photos on here too, but with photobucket changing their policies now all photos have gone from the site.

I will try and find the photos again and post. I used filter floss and sponge in the first chamber where the water dropped in, it took out the big particulates of food, poo etc, then a mix of bio-balls and grog (porous rocks) in the other three chambers. never had a problem with ammonia and gave great stability.

Be great to see your set up Krissy once you get it filled, remember, be patient with maturing the sump. Will you do a fishless cycle?

Hi Steve and Sayid, got back from Queensland this week with Cade cabinet on back of Ute. Had to put the tank on transport so that arrives mid next week. I’m in the fortunate position to have room in lounge to temporarily house both tanks until the Cade is fully cycled so will be taking my time with setting up the Cade. I managed to get two beautiful butted pieces of driftwood, one being about a metre long and the other about 650 high. Both have the gorgeous natural buttrose ends. The bigger one I’ll place lengthwise and the other upright. I’m going to run a journal on it as this is something I haven’t done before and gives me a written record even if it bores everyone else, .